KARACHI, June 14: The SBP Strategic Vision for 2005-2010 calls for export of financial services to various countries of the world, said State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Ishrat Husain.

He was addressing the second Excellence Award Ceremony by the Certified Financial Analyst — CFA Association of Pakistan (CFAAP) on Tuesday. A CFA press release stated that the SBP governor observed that the above aim required a high degree of integrity and professionalism in investment and finance professionals of the country which can be attained through the CFA certification.

Dr Ishrat stressed importance of league awards in the financial sector and said that it was a welcome initiative of the CFAAP. “All over the world league awards are the benchmark for investors, however this was absent in Pakistan till now”, the governor said.

The award winners for the year 2003-2004 were Invest Capital (Pvt) Ltd. in the category of ‘the best equity brokerage house’ and Mohammad Sohail honoured as ‘the best equity research analyst’ (both received those awards for second consecutive year). United Bank Limited was named the largest investment bank; while Standard Chartered Bank got the prize for ‘the most innovative corporate finance transaction.’

The award ceremony was followed by a presentation by Lawrence S. Speidell CFA, Executive Vice President, Laffer Associates, USA, who spoke on “Behavioral Finance”. Mr Speidell said that investors want every thing. They want the highest returns, the least risk, least taxation and least fees. In these circumstances, many of the basic instincts of investment professionals do not serve well in the attempt to make effective long-term economic and investment decisions. “Our emotional biases are reflected in the behaviour of individual investors, of institutional investors and investment committees. However, a better understanding of behavioural finance can help investors make better and more profitable decisions”, he said.